In his book Christianity Alongside Islam (Acorn Press, 2o10) John Wilson finds it necessary to deal with the outlandish view of some “new atheists” that Jesus never lived at all. This position is so absurd as to be not worthy of consideration were it not for the fact that others are repeating this view as if it had some authoritative evidence behind it. Tragically, new atheists who promote this fiction are propagating prejudice and ignorance.
Dawkins based his view to this effect on the work of a Professor Wells of the University of London who is not a professor of history but an emeritus professor of German. As Wilson points out: “no ancient historian of the period or New Testament scholar of note treats Jesus as a legendary figure or an invention of later times” (32).
Dawkins displays his own ignorance of early Christian literature by devoting a paragraph to “the crude miracle stories” in The Gospel of Thomas, flying in the face of the fact that such stories are conspicuous for their absence from this book which is rather a collection of sayings with Gnostic overtones. Wilson also cites Dawkins’ unsupportable claim that “most of what the four canonical Gospels share is derived from a common source, either Mark’s Gospel or a lost work of which Mark is the earliest extant descendant” (32). Wilson also notes Hitchens’ absurd contention that all four Gospel are based on the hypothetical document called “Q.”
As an antidote to such foolishness, Wilson encourages the reading of the four Gospels themselves.
Posted May 28, 2011
www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au
Upon clicking 'Buy now' you will be redirected to paypal.com where you can securely and quickly complete your purchase with a few clicks.
Immediately after payment at PayPal you will be redirected to a download page which
provides you instant access to your purchase.
